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How I exposed my friend’s cancer fraud (and what Netflix got wrong)

Apple Cider Vinegar tells the story of Belle Gibson and a global wellness empire built on lies — but it didn’t consult the woman who unmasked her

McAuliffe is revisiting this dark chapter of her life because of a six-part Netflix series, Apple Cider Vinegar, about the scam, billed as a “true-ish story based on a lie”. After becoming suspicious, McAuliffe said the tipping point came when Gibson was hosting a fourth birthday party for her son at their plush beachfront home and collapsed as the guests were beginning to leave. In April 2015, Gibson admitted in a tearful interview with Australian Women’s Weekly that “none of it’s true”, although she went on to blame a dysfunctional childhood in Brisbane as the child of a single mother with multiple sclerosis.

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